Local woman sentenced for murdering husband

Tuesday

Aug 31, 2010 at 12:01 AMAug 31, 2010 at 6:00 AM

By TOMOYA SHIMURA, Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • A Lucerne Valley woman was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on Aug. 27 for the first-degree murder of her husband five years ago. April Gwen Benitez, 42, pleaded guilty in February to killing Alberto Benitez. She later tried to withdraw her guilty plea, but decided last Friday to withdraw that motion.

“The irony of your evilness is that my brother loved you so much,” Alberto Benitez’s sister, Angelica Benton, told the defendant in her victim impact statement. “Our family saw how happy he was with you and how much he wanted to please you.”

April Benitez, her 22-year-old daughter, Justina Marie Perry, and Perry’s boyfriend, 22-year-old Vincent Schofield, plotted to lure Alberto Benitez outside his Lucerne Valley home, where Schofield struck him in the head with a metal baseball bat, authorities said.

“I wanted to let her know how we felt losing him,” Benton said after the sentencing. “Ever since it happened, I wanted to ask her why, because she had everything.”

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s investigators said they believe the motive for the murder was the trio’s dislike for Alberto Benitez because he was reportedly abusive to family members.

Perry pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison in July. Schofield is awaiting trial.

Tomoya Shimura may be reached at tshimura@VVDailyPress.com or (760) 955-5368.